Boys fell further behind girls in reading, writing and mathematics at primary school this year, according to the latest test results.

Just 51pc of 11-year-old boys in England reached the level expected of their age group in the three core subjects, compared with 63pc of girls. This marked a one percentage point drop in boys' scores and a one point rise for girls.

But the latest figures demonstrated that the growing gender gap is a much wider problem.

Overall, 57pc of all pupils - boys and girls - reached the expected standard of Level 4 in their national curriculum tests this year. This was the same proportion as 2004 but a rise from the 1997 level of 43pc.